Tales of Everlasting Love
by Ekly Valdur
Summary: After the end of the series, as everyone continues to pursue Naraku and the jewel shards, romance will blossom for Inuyasha, Kagome, Miroku, Sango, Kohaku, Rin, Sesshoumaru, and many more. But how many will get their happy ending?


The wind blew gently through the trees, letting the smaller fragile limbs of the branches sway in a harmonizing rhythm. The clear blue sky had nary a cloud and the sun shone brightly on the cool calm spring day. There was an overall calm to the forest on this day…

"Where the fuck is she? She was supposed to be here an hour ago so we could get an early start on the shard hunt!"

Well, at least there had been a calm. Miroku opened his eyes, and lazily looked at his half-demon friend, who seemed to have even lesser patience than the young fox demon Shippo. "I do not know Inuyasha, but surely Kagome-sama will be here soon, she is likely gathering provisions for our trip." Miroku had been glad for the young miko's delayed arrival; it gave him a chance to meditate, there was always too much commotion when the group traveled for him to ever have the peace he needed for his meditation, and the lands they traveled through were too dangerous to wander into alone to get the peace he craved. Meditation helped to calm his kazanna, another reason he could rarely get the meditation he so often needed.

Miroku's group of friends needed as much merriment as they could get, they were all far too young to worry too much or too long, and they needed their hope that everything would be alright, that they could almost behave normally as they traveled. The kazanna was a constant reminder of what needed to be done, what it sometimes seemed, would never be done. Miroku didn't want his friends to feel burdened with the knowledge of his pain, they all had so many worries already, and they didn't need to think of his as well.

"I'm going after her! We've waited long enough!" Inuyasha was screaming at this point, keeping up with his dramatic actions as always. Miroku supposed that he was not the only one who tried to hide his woes from his friends; each of them had different ways of hiding from their troubles, of keeping their troubles as hidden as they could. When Inuyasha was upset over something he became especially loud and obnoxious, Miroku could see very easily that the half demon had the capacity to stay calm, and to keep his big mouth from getting him 'sat', most of the time at least.

Miroku saw that Inuyasha and Kagome played well of each other, their antics of screaming, threatening, and even sitting, were all like something of a dance. It was how they distracted one another from their problems, such as when there had been a recent encounter with another certain miko. Kagome would become upset and worry, and Inuyasha would do something stupid to earn himself a subduing, acting as an outlet for Kagome to vent her frustration. While it certainly wasn't all intentional, some of it was.

Either that, or Miroku was just overanalyzing…

"Only if you are sure the actions will be worth the punishment Inuyasha. Don't you remember the crater you created the last time you bothered Kagome too much about her slightly delayed returns?" Miroku also realized a great deal of Inuyasha's antics were not only for Kagome's benefit. Being hotheaded made him seem childish and dense, when he was really quite intelligent and mature, when the time called for it. Miroku wasn't sure exactly why Inuyasha did this, but he suspected it was a way of recapturing his lost youth. Even with as many dangers and responsibilities as the young Shippo had to face, he was still taken care of and allowed many childish antics that Miroku doubted his half-demon friend had ever been able to enjoy. The life of a half demon was difficult, full of hate and intolerance, and the young were not spared this harsh reality.

Miroku stood now, he clearly wasn't going to attain the inner peace he'd set out to gain while out in the forest, he may as well go into the village and try to enjoy himself in…other ways. While his banter and flirtations were harmless, Miroku could not help but enjoy the effects his attention had on the young girls in the villages he came across. Lives of women were so often filled with heartache, the distraction of having a palm read or the countless compliments he placed upon them made the girls happy, and he enjoyed being able to do that for them, while at the same time, whenever anyone girl took him too seriously and seemed to think something may begin, it took only a stroke of his hand to get them to see they were in over their heads. He would be sent away with a stinging cheek, and the girls would feel confident and beautiful. It was a small price to pay. Oftentimes when Miroku would encounter a young woman he had so shamelessly bestowed his affections on, and find that she had married, and either already had, or planned to, start a family.

Inuyasha seemed to pause, realizing that he and Kagome had actually parted on good terms this time, and he didn't seem to think he was in the mood to start a journey with tension in the air from an unnecessary scene.

"I'm going to go see what's taking so long. You Monk, just make sure everyone else will be ready to leave when I get back." Inuyasha now stood upon the edge of the well, ready to jump inside and go to that mysterious world that Kagome-sama hailed from.

"Be assured Inuyasha, we will be ready to depart once you return, we made sure our belongings were ready last night, so as not to have any difficulties leaving this morning." Miroku and the others knew well enough now that they needed to be ready to go as soon as possible. It just made things easier.

Inuyasha gave him a short nod, and promptly jumped into the well, and was engulfed in the mystical blue light.

Damn woman was always late. There was not one time, not once that she had come back on time without him. Why couldn't she get ready early? It wouldn't be hard, just spend a FEW less hours boiling herself in those damn baths.

Inuyasha quickly leapt toward Kagome's home, determined to find her and hurry her up to get back. He wanted to find those jewel shards quick, they couldn't afford to risk letting Naraku get any more shards. Kagome seemed to forget that sometimes, she said it was because she was 'optimistic', and tried to see the good instead of the bad. Which was just stupid. Ignoring the bad didn't make things any better; it just means your being oblivious to the truth.

He found her in the kitchen, packing some of those stupid lunches she insisted were better than his Ramen. Nothing was better than Ramen. He wondered how no one else seemed to understand that.

"Kagome… you're late again." He tried to say this calmly, casually. He was not in the mood for her to use the word.

"I know Inuyasha, but just a little. Mama wasn't here to help me with everyone's lunch, she and Grandpa had to go to visit her aunt, whose husband had a heart attack, they een left Souta with a friend for the time being. And I'm not the greatest cook, not when it comes to great food like this, so I had to take my time making it."

Wow, she was staying calm…. That was good.

"But you're almost done right? We'll leave soon?" Inuyasha was still very cautious; he knew she sometimes tried to draw him into that false sense of security, just before saying THAT word.

"Yes, Inuyasha. As soon as I finish packing this all up."

Inuyasha waited, as patiently as he could, while she finished packing everything, he saw the many packages of Ramen noodles, so he didn't have to bother asking about it. He-was-gunna- eat-Ramen…

"I need to be back in three weeks Inuyasha; I have mid-terms, so I'll have to take a test for every class."

"We'll see what we can do." Only three weeks?

"We'll see isn't good enough Inuyasha, I really have to be here, whether you come back with me or not."

Now she was just being unreasonable!

"What if we found Naraku? Huh?" Kagome just didn't have her priorities straight, there was no way her stupid tests were more important than defeating Naraku.

"I don't know Inuyasha." She sighed sadly.

It was probably best not to push it till later.

"Fine, let's just get out of here, we need to hurry if you want to get back here so quick." There, he was being nice, that should get him some brownie points.

"Yes, lets." Kagome smiled softly, put her enormous yellow bag on her back, and they headed for the well.


End file.
